1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an access pointer for interconnecting a power line communication (PLC) network and a wireless network and a method therefor, and more particularly, to an access pointer for interconnecting various devices on a wireless network and a home network implemented by a PLC network and a method therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
PLC is provided to allow superhigh-speed Internet to be accessed through only an electric outlet, i.e., a power line. PLC provides a method of easily constructing a communication network using a power line that has already been installed at home and is thus used as the most effective means for constituting a home network. A power line based home network provides services on the basis of a home server or a home gateway functioning as the home server. However, to connect a terminal, such as a notebook computer with a wireless local area network (LAN) card, which cannot use an existing PLC network, to the PLC network, the home gateway must support the wireless LAN and must be compatible with the PLC network.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional home gateway of a home network simultaneously supporting diverse networks. Referring to FIG. 1, to interconnect the diverse networks, performance of the home gateway needs to be increased very much, which is costly. In addition, to add a new network to the home network, a new home gateway is needed and network setting needs to be changed inconveniently. If replacement of a home gateway is costly, the conventional structure shown in FIG. 1 may hamper the wide spread of the home network very much, and it will be very difficult to expand the home network.